Getting It
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Friday, October 11, 2024
Luke 8: 1-15 (Forward, p. 74) CEV p. 1067
Today’s parable, the well-known Parable of the Sower, or, as I prefer to call it, ‘the Parable of the Seeds and the Soils’, is so familiar and has been so repeated in our hearing, that most of us immediately ‘get’ the import of it, immediately ‘get’ its message. However, I wonder about its immediate audience, including Jesus’ own disciples—and, by extension, I wonder about us as well. We know that Jesus’ disciples did not immediately ‘get’ it as they asked Jesus in private what it meant.
And so, as I have often mused before, what was Jesus’ purpose in telling these parables, stories from real life that also conveyed a deeper, sometimes hidden, message? Was He, as is sometimes alleged, purposely hiding His message from everyone but a select few, that is, a kind of insider-outside sort of thing? (That, most assuredly, does not seem to be in accord with Jesus’ desire to reach all people.). Or, was Jesus simply whetting people’s appetites, planting some seeds (sort of like the parable itself) that might later take root and erupt into some new insights? In my personal life, I have discovered that my mind, over time, gets tuned into a ‘spiritual’ dimension, such that I am able to glean insights and truths even from seemingly ordinary and casual things and events. And, yes, it is indeed like a seed, for over time it becomes stronger and more acute. I think that Jesus did indeed want everyone to ‘get it’, but that He wanted them to have to work on it, dig a bit, ponder a bit, to get its full meaning and personal application.
Forward notes: “A sower went out to sow his seed” (verse 5a).
“In this parable, we can conclude that God is a horrible farmer. Seeds are a valuable commodity, and yet, here is God scattering seeds anywhere and everywhere. Less of a skilled farmer, God seems more like a toddler given some seeds to do whatever she pleases, giggling joyfully as she throws seeds everywhere.
“Horrible farming strategy aside, we encounter a beautiful and joyful image of generosity and grace in this story. God doesn’t assess whether the soil is worthy, ready, or primed to receive the seed; God just sows.
“How often have we refrained from acts of love and kindness because we either felt that the people were not ready for it or, worse, they did not deserve our acts of love and kindness?
“If this parable teaches me anything, it’s that I am called to love indiscriminately and unconditionally. Instead of assessing ‘the soil’ and determining if it’s ready or worthy of our time and love, we should follow the example of the Sower and be generous with our time and love.”
Moving Forward “How will you be generous with your time and love today?”
A concluding note: I’m afraid that today’s author is quite unfamiliar with how farming took place back at the time of Jesus and therefore quite mistaken in describing the farmer, and therefore God, as being a ‘horrible farmer.’ Farm plots back then were small and often contained a radical mixture of soil types and conditions. The plots were too small for any kind of mechanized plowing or tilling—which didn’t exist back then, and besides, these actions took place after the sowing, rather than beforehand, as is our practice. And so, who knew what the soil would be like afterwards—the hardened or rocky surface might be broken up and the weeds disturbed or even uprooted—and who knew then how the seeds might fare.
Even with this slight amendment, our author is dead on with his suggestion that God’s love is indiscriminate and generous, bestowed freely and graciously upon people regardless of who or what they might be or how they might behave.